Grammy-nominated producers discuss their lives, careers and pop music in general at a roundtable event. 

In 2010, the songs were ubiquitous, even if the music producers who helped create them were less well-known: Lady Gaga's “Bad Romance,” Eminem's “Love the Way You Lie,” Cee Lo Green's “[Forget] You” and B.o.B.'s “Nothin' on You” and “Airplanes” blanketed airwaves and filled earbuds with indelible hooks and melodies. 

But those hooks and melodies took work. Though they may drift out of the car stereo effortlessly, much sweat equity was spent crafting them. No one understands that process better than the music producers, whose job it is to turn an idea into a song. If the timing's right, the song hits. 

In advance of the Grammy Awards, which will be held Feb. 13 in downtown Los Angeles, three of today's hottest hitmakers, RedOne (Lady Gaga, Enrique Iglesias), Alex Da Kid (Eminem, B.o.B.) and Ari Levine of the Smeezingtons (Cee Lo, Bruno Mars) sat down with Times pop music critic Ann Powers for the first Los Angeles Times Music Producers Roundtable, an intimate conversation with artists who helped shape 2010's pop-music landscape.

On Saturday evening in front of a sold-out crowd, Powers led a freewheeling conversation that sought to put into words the magic that turns a bunch of notes on paper (or, these days, a hard drive) into a hit song.

“I think the most important thing is having a vision. Being able to see things before other people can see it,” Alexander Grant — better known as Alex Da Kid — told the audience inside the Grammy Museum's Clive Davis Theater. “Most of the songs you're working on, they won't even come out for three or four months at least, maybe longer, so you have to be able to think what's going to be a hit record in six months.”

Nadir Khayat, the Moroccan-born producer known as RedOne, knows something about foresight. His best known collaborator, and muse, is Lady Gaga.

“I just saw the vision,” he said of Gaga. “I just saw this girl that could be this [huge] thing. We went to the studio and talked about Queen, Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen and I'm thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, she knows music,'” Khayat said. “She was inspired. I've always thought of music as one, it's a universal language. That's what we did with the sound of Lady Gaga.”

Alex Da Kid fast-tracked himself to one of hip-hop’s most-sought-after producer-songwriters after crafting two of last year’s biggest singles: B.o.B’s “Airplanes” and Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie.” 

But the 27-year-old, born Alexander Grant, didn’t follow a typical path into music and was working toward a much different career goal. 

Born and raised in Wood Green, north London, he originally had his sights set on becoming a professional soccer player. Grant played for England’s Bristol City youth team before distractions — and an injury — sidelined his foray into the big leagues.

“To cut a long story short,” he jokes while lounging in a Beverly Hills office suite. “My friend gave me a program, Fruity Loops. I had just finished playing soccer, and I decided to start making tracks.

“I didn’t know anything about [making music], and I hadn’t had any experience with it before … but I just fell in love with it.”

For those tethered to their Twitters like umbilical cords, it was impossible to avoid this week's trending topic from Shady Records, announcing the signing of blog darlings Yelawolf and the  bludgeon-rap supergroup Slaughterhouse.

The union of Royce Da 5'9", Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden and Crooked I with Eminem’s long dormant label had been heavily rumored for months. But the news about Yelawolf sent the Internet echo chamber into a frenzy of self-congratulatory back slaps and high fives. (And these are very difficult gestures to do via the digital medium.)

But the sentiment seemed well-deserved concerning Yelawolf, who is one of the rare rappers capable of eliciting largely unanimous praise amid that famously fractious world. Those looking for a more substantial background on the Gadsden, Ala., rapper can turn to his Times interview from last year. But in brief, think a flock of seagull-haired and heavily tattoed redneck with a double-timed tornado flow, and an experimental streak reminiscent of early Def Jux (his collaboration with El-P is forthcoming).

Themes include: Mossberg rifles, Monte Carlos  and the backwoods battles endemic to the rural south. Or as his Twitter bio describes him: rapper, skater, drinker.

Thus far, the critical accolades have yet to turn into commercial returns. Late last year, the rapper born Michael Wayne Atha dropped the stellar “Trunk Muzik 0-60,” which debuted to a modest 5,000 in first week sales -- a far cry from Eminem’s multiplatinum reign. Yet the label appears to be taking an atypical tack in today’s singles-driven rap world: nurturing him as a career artist.

“Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse, it’s kinda phase two of Shady. It’s the new generation of Shady Records and as we’re trying to rebuild our label, it’s exciting for Hip Hop and with all of these forces coming together and with what everybody’s capable of on the mic, it’s gonna be fun,” Eminem said in a prepared statement.

 
Digital music sales, which over the years have provided optimism for the music industry in the face of crumbling CD sales, are starting to flatline as consumers turn to a growing number of free and legal ways of listening to hit songs whenever they want.

Sales of individual digital songs grew just 1% in 2010, down from 8% in 2009 and 27% in 2008, according to a report released Wednesday by market research firm Nielsen SoundScan.

The slowing digital numbers are a sign that the market for digital music is maturing, said Eric Garland, chief executive of Big Champagne, a digital music consulting firm. Garland believes the numbers point to another change in the market -- the emergence of free and legal alternative sources to music online, such as YouTube, Vevo and Pandora.

“What's changed is that people are listening to vastly more free music without breaking the rules,” Garland said. “That can have a cannibalization effect.”

The decline in the growth rate of digital song sales occurred as record labels pushed for iTunes to raise the price of top-selling songs 30%, to $1.29 from 99 cents, on the company's iTunes store, which accounts for the majority of digital music sales. That's preventing a corresponding slowdown in revenue growth.

“The vast majority of the top 200 digital tracks are now $1.29,” said David Bakula, a Nielsen music analyst. “So while sales of singles are flat, their revenue is absolutely going up.” Nielsen does not report dollar sales.

The increase in the price of singles has made the cost of $9.99 albums look more attractive, boosting digital album sales 13% last year compared with 16% in 2009 and 32% in 2008.

Apple continues to account for most music sales online, commanding a more than 60% market share, according to industry research firm NPD Group. Amazon.com, which generated numerous headlines in 2010 for deep-discounting albums by the likes of Taylor Swift, Kanye West and the Arcade Fire to $3.99, is a distant second. Fire-sale pricing aside, albums are still about one-third of overall digital music sales.

The Grammy Awards went young -- and pop -- in 2010, awarding crossover teen star Taylor Swift the show's top crown -- album of the year. For such a seemingly wholesome and beloved artist, it was seen as a somewhat controversial pick.

The Grammys have typically skewed older -- Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Herbie Hancock, U2, etc. -- and rarely award an artist without a lengthy body of work. Unlike Norah Jones and Lauryn Hill, Swift's detailed tales of teenage life seemed aimed at a direct audience, and when she gave a wobbly vocal performance with Stevie Nicks, Team Swift was on the defensive. 

The Grammys can't win. Even when they gift its top prize to America's pop sweetheart, complaints pour in. But the Swift win did hint that Grammy voters are willing to go more mainstream than ever, and she competed in a field that also included the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, the Dave Matthews Band and Beyoncé.

One could argue that such a field represented the genre-hopping tastes of the iPod generation, or one could note that the choices were almost stubbornly old school. Voters went with all major label artists, all major stars and carefully spread the picks amid pop, rock, country and R&B fields. A year for the unexpected it was not.

Whether the trend continues, or voters throw in a Radiohead, Hancock or White Stripes-like surprise, will be answered soon enough. Grammy ballots are due Nov. 3, and nominations will be revealed in early December. Before voters put down their pencils, here's a look at some of the likely nominations -- and perhaps some deserving ones. 

(This is Part 1. Stay tuned to Pop & Hiss for a continued look at album of the year front-runners.)

Eminem, "Recovery" (Aftermath/Interscope)

Grammy potential: Despite his sometimes penchant for shock-and-awe rap, Eminem has been one of the rare hip-hop artists to graphically explore violence and sex and still earn Grammy recognition in the major categories. Twice Eminem has been nominated for Grammy's top prize. Sales, of course, have helped his cause, and Eminem has a trail of critical accolades behind him. "Recovery" is seen as a more a serious turn than 2009's "Relapse," and little makes an artist more appealing to Grammy voters than getting older.

Grammy deserving: When Eminem released "Relapse," it was his first album of new material in five years, and it captured an artist who had become a cartoon. As rapid and clever as his rhymes were, the drugged-up serial killer shtick was just that, and its appeal was based on whether or not one could see it as humor or some sort of metaphor. "Recovery" is full of anger, but it's largely directed at Eminem himself. It's a moody, lacerating examination, and one that has sold close to 3 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The fact that it's perceived as a more thoughtful album than "Relapse" should make it Grammy bait. 

As hard-hitting as its investigative reports can often be, “60 Minutes” hasn’t exactly been cutting edge in the pop music department. Pop watchers may remember, for instance, how earlier this year Andy Rooney went off on a “never heard of 'em” tirade after reading the Billboard 200. “The singers I know have been replaced by Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Usher. I mean, who?!” Rooney sputtered.

But the news magazine delivered a revealing interview with Eminem on Sunday night that even longtime fans and Eminem completists may find illuminating.

Accompanied by “60 Minutes” correspondent Anderson Cooper, the reclusive rhyme-spitter returned to the rough and tumble Detroit neighborhood where he grew up for a literal trip down memory lane -- one that included recalling a drug overdose in a bathroom at his home that nearly killed him. Also in the segment, Eminem provided new details about his creative process and addressed issues of race and other controversies that have dogged him throughout his career.

Right in the middle of Eminem’s first official West Coast performance since 2005, the rapper paused to ask: “Did you miss me?”

Eminem has a knack for tapping into the drama or comedy of a moment, and the huge cheers he got in response at the Epicenter festival in Fontana on Saturday were a measure of how uncharacteristically quiet he’s been during those years, until the release of 2009’s “Relapse” and this summer’s “Recovery.”

As he paced the stage in a sweat-soaked T-shirt, it was near the end of a blazing-hot day on the blacktop at Auto Club Speedway. He was sharing a diverse bill with the rock acts Kiss, Bush and Papa Roach and with fellow hip-hop artists Big Boi and House of Pain. (Day 2 of the fest Sunday was more focused on straight ahead punk-pop, headlined by Blink-182.)

With stacks of crushed cars as décor to evoke the wreckage of Detroit, Eminem crept across the stage during a chilling “3 a.m.,” as gore splashed on the big video screen behind him, followed by “Kill You,” another song of playful bloodshed. His new album is a step away from rhymes of violence and the more cartoonish side of his persona, but during Saturday’s set he toyed with the range of his multiple selves.

The arrival this weekend of the second Epicenter festival in Fontana begs the question: Does the world really have room for yet another pop music festival?

“No, not really,” says Gary Spivack, co-president of Right Arm Entertainment, the promoter of Epicenter, which in its sophomore year has assembled an eclectic lineup of rock, hip-hop, punk and alternative acts including Eminem, KISS, blink-182, Bush, Rise Against and Bad Religion on Saturday and Sunday at the Auto Club Speedway.

“There are a lot of festivals out there and some really good ones here in Southern California,” Spivack said. “But if someone is being underserved, we want to serve underserved, and we thought, ‘Where’s the really big rock festival that also is able to include some of the really credible hip-hop artists of the day?’ ”

For Eminem, it’s only his third live performance this year -- and only West Coast appearance -- following recent rap blowouts in his native Detroit and then New York on stadium bills he shared with Jay-Z.

“If you’re going to do a show in Southern California, where people have so many options to choose from, you’ve got to swing for the fences,” says Spivack, who started Right Arm four years ago with partners Del Williams and Danny Wimmer. The three were longtime record label employees who “saw the writing on the wall,” Spivack said, in terms of the drastic downscaling so many record companies have gone through in recent years.

Pop & Hiss is live -- sort of! We're about 4 miles from MTV's annual pat-on-the-back party, but we're still grading all the performances as fast as we can, complete with typos. The two hours of hype will be documented here, but we also recommend you follow the tweets of our chief pop critic Ann Powers.  

 
Eminem, "Not Afraid/Love the Way You Lie." The show begins with a close-up of Eminem, his face shrouded in a hoodie, all Dungeons & Dragons sorcerer-like. But there's no 20-sided playfulness here, as Em is all solemn and serious -- stalking the stage face-down and plundering it with rhymes. "Not Afraid" is an overly forced tale of overcoming addiction, but it's stronger than anything off of last year's "Relapse." It comes alive as Em struts from a brick-adorned back room to a stage that's spread among a host of Googie-inspired symmetrics, allowing for some creative displays of light. Eminem has stolen some of Kanye West's "Heartless" drum line, and it gives the cut some award-show oomph, but doesn't add to the song's tenseness so much as explode it. The tautness comes courtesy of Rihanna, who appears onstage with a colorful, Hayley Williams-like hairdo. Her vocal delivery is straight-up stern, the perfect counterpoint to Em's more forceful hits. Overall, a solid opening: B

Justin Bieber, "Baby." Remember a couple years ago when the Jonas Brothers performed outdoors at the MTV VMAs? This year it's Bieber who’s the young'un who can't play inside with the grown-ups. He rolls up to the  downtown L.A. venue in a red convertible, chased by teenage girls. His "Baby" is fluffy retro-teen pop, and the vintage car and screaming girls attempt to connect Bieber to idols of yore. But Bieber is no Beatle, and his "Baby" is the kind of inescapable pop hit that already sounds dated, forever affixed to spring 2010. It's a sugar high, and Bieber isn't here to sing it so much as to show off his high-flying dance moves in his Team Bieber varsity jackets. But lest we think he's completely void of musical talent, he makes a brief racket on the drum set, immediately after dancing with some tykes half his size. The giant "B" on Beiber's jacket tells us what squad he’s playing for, but this belongs to the Mickey Mouse Club: D

Huntington Beach's Avenged Sevenfold confronted the unexpected passing last year of drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan on its recently released "Nightmare." The darkly personal hard rock song cycle has been embraced by fans, as "Nightmare" has given the locals its best-ever sales week on the U.S. pop charts. "Nightmare" lands at No. 1 this week, having sold 162,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to hold off another strong sales showing from Eminem's "Recovery."

Avenged Sevenfold has been on the upward trajectory since jumping to Warner Bros. in the mid-2000s, and it is one of the rare bands that continues to see sales increases with each album. "Nightmare" marks Avenged Sevenfold's first album since 2007's self-titled Warner Bros. effort, the act's second for the major, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 94,000 copies sold in its first week.That represented a major boost for the act. It's 2005 collection, "City of Evil," entered the chart at No. 30, with fewer than 35,000 first week sales. 

Avenged Sevenfold isn't the only SoCal group to post an impressive showing on this week's sales chart. Retro-pop act Best Coast, the indie faves of the moment, enter at No. 36 with "Crazy for You," an album that sold 10,000 copies in its debut week. The buzz on Best Coast's '50's-meets-Ramones-inspired sound began at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, in March, and has only increased in the weeks since.

The crowd at Rihanna's first-ever headlining show in Los Angeles, at Staples Center on Wednesday night, was already up and shouting. But the minute Rihanna began singing the hook from "Love the Way You Lie," the din began to build to a rolling boil. Then the somewhat expected happened: Eminem, her duet partner on that No. 1 song, emerged and started spitting out his emotional verses from the song. The response from the audience was so loud, you might have thought it was June 17 and Kobe, Pau and Ron had just nabbed victory again.

Eminem's emergence wasn't shocking, since he and Rihanna were filming a video in town earlier in the day. It added an element of spontaneity to Rihanna's visually stunning, high-concept concert. With no particular set piece on which to rely -- no pink tank, no trashed car, none of the many other props that populated the nightmarish dream world of the "Last Girl on Earth" tour -- the two performers relied on what made the single so memorable: their vocal rapport.

Adopting a stern stance, Eminem unfurled his emotional verses about a violent relationship, while Rihanna countered with the song's soft, mournful chorus. The pair circled each other on the stage extension that put Rihanna out in the crowd for much of the show. They didn't direct their words at each other. Their disconnection may have been the result of nerves -- Eminem and Rihanna have only performed the song live once before -- but it actually worked for this song, which, after all, is about two lovers who have grown perilously incompatible.

Most impressive, perhaps, was Eminem's effect on the fans, who went completely bonkers when he entered. The great success of his new album, "Recovery," already should have silenced anyone doubting whether Em could make a lasting comeback after his struggles with addiction. The frenzy that he can still ignite, even at another chart-topper's show, testifies to his status as a classic-variety superstar. As for giving back, he didn't pander; he just did what he does best -- rap -- and departed.

More on Rihanna's show, and on opener Kesha, in a full review later Thursday.

-- Ann Powers

Photo: Rihanna, on her Last Girl on Earth tour, performs at L.A.'s Staples Center on Wednesday. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

With 2010 reaching its halfway mark, U.S. album sales are again facing another double-digit decline. Yet amid the harsh climate, Eminem's "Recovery" has managed to top 1 million in sales after adding an additional 313,000 copies sold to its tally this week. "Recovery" is one of four albums released in 2010 to sell more than 1 million copies through the first half of the year, according to mid-year data released today from Nielsen SoundScan.

But while there's good news from Eminem and country trio Lady Antebellum, overall album sales are down 11%, compared with the first half of 2009. There is growth in the digital sector, but evidence that it's slowing. Digital album sales are up 13.7% compared with the same period last year, while sales of digital tracks are flat. Both finished 2009 on an upswing, with digital album sales ending last year up 16.1% and digital track sales wrapping 2009 up 8.3%.

Yet digital album sales were stronger in the first quarter of 2010, up nearly 16% from last year's first quarter, and a busy fall and winter release schedule can certainly put 2010 on par. Digital albums now account for 27.4% of all album purchases, up from 21.5% at this time last year.